


Late Night Requests

by mldrgrl



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 18:59:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17945288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mldrgrl/pseuds/mldrgrl
Summary: A little post-Home Again piece.





	Late Night Requests

Reluctantly, Mulder dropped Scully off at home, only because she insisted and he still felt things between them were too shaky at times to push.  Though the morning had been fittingly dreary, the grey clouds and the mist that lingered had finally dissipated by early afternoon and the sun had made an appearance shortly before retiring for the evening.  It made for a nice night, not cold, but pleasantly chilly. Sweater weather, Scully always said.

 

After heating a can of soup and eating it quietly at the kitchen table, Mulder searched the cupboards for the little battery operated lantern they used to use on nights when it stormed and they’d had to shut everything down for fear of power surges.  The electricity wasn’t always so great in the little house, but it always came back. 

 

The lantern was located and Mulder grabbed a wool blanket and transistor radio before heading outside.  He set up the dim lantern and the radio on the little round table on the porch and draped the wool blanket over the rickety chair beside it.  There weren’t any ball games on, but he was more in the mood for some quiet music and stargazing. Unbelievably, he found a station that was playing a block of love songs of the 60s and 70s and he settled in.

 

“...that was Frankie Valli and the 4 Seasons with Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You,” the dulcet voice of the DJ slid smoothly over the fading song.  “Requested by James and dedicated to Kathy. Kathy, James wants you to know that just like the song says, you’re just too good to be true and he can’t take his eyes off of you.”

 

Mulder snort-laughed just a little.  He hadn’t happened upon a dedication block in a long time, not since nights driving the country with Scully, when he’d make up stories about the James’s and Kathy’s of the world making song requests on late night radio to amuse his partner.  She’d even confessed to him that she’d called a radio station as a lovesick teenager in high school, dedicating a song to the boy she had a crush on, but they’d never played it, or read her sappy, moony-eyed poem she’d dictated. She’d been devastated that one Saturday night, but in hindsight, relieved she was spared the humiliation.

 

“Coming up,” the DJ announced.  “Crazy Love by Van Morrison. From Brad to Veronica.  Veronica, Brad wants you to know he couldn’t have made it through this year without you and everything that you do.”

 

The song started and Mulder hummed along softly.  He closed his eyes and let himself be soothed by the soft music and the ambiance of a few croaking bullfrogs in the distance and the chirp of crickets that always seemed to surround the house between dusk and midnight.  He made it through Just the Way You Are, from Stacey to Ryan, Let’s Stay Together, from Allen to Isabelle, who sounded like a lost cause to him, You Are So Beautiful, from Timothy to Chris, and Unchained Melody, from Gabriella to Marco, because of course a block of love songs would have to include Unchained Melody.  Mulder was pretty sure it was a law.

 

In the midst of an advertisement break, Mulder heard the unmistakable sound of tires on gravel and he opened his eyes as a pair of headlights bounced towards him, the car having just hit the bump at the turn to the drive.  He stood and brought a hand up over his eyes to block the light. It was Scully. She brought her SUV to a halt alongside Mulder’s car and then sat behind the wheel, staring up at him for at least a full minute. It took her so long to get out of the car that Kelly had time to dedicate I Only Have Eyes for You to Wayne, and The Flamingos had just reached their first ‘shabopshabop’s’ as she slowly took the stairs up to the porch.

 

“What’re you doing?” she asked.

 

“Listening to music,” he answered.  “What’re you doing?”

 

She shrugged, and then looked down at her feet as she shook her head.  He waited, and after only a few moments, she took a breath and stepped closer, shuffling forward little by little until her bowed head lightly touched his chest.  Surprised, he reached up and cupped the back of her neck. She put her hands on his hips, curled into loose fists, as though to keep him at arms’ length, but after a short bout of hesitation, turned her cheek and stepped up fully against him.  She was so tense though. Her hurt and grief vibrated through him.

 

Without a word, he took up one of her curled hands and brought it up to his chest, slowly coaxing her fingers open with the slide of his thumb up her palm.  He wrapped his other arm around her shoulders and began to sway slightly. The floorboards creaked beneath them. Little by little, she began to relax.

 

“Once again, that was I Only Have Eyes for You from Kelly to Wayne,” said the DJ.  “Wayne, there will never be anyone else for Kelly and she can’t wait for your wedding and the rest of your lives together to begin.  Up next, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow by the Shirelles, from Barbara to Leo.”

 

As the new song started, Scully’s fingers that had been resting gently against Mulder’s chest began to curl again.  He massaged her knuckles and the webbing between her fingers to keep them open.

 

“I’m guessing Barbara’s a divorcee,” Mulder murmured, initiating the long ago game from road trips past.  “Probably married 40 years to a man that ran around on her. Bad break-up. Leo’s probably the first guy she’s trying to get back in the saddle with, but she’s scared.”

 

It took a few moments for her to say anything and in that time, Mulder moved his hand up from her shoulder to stroke her hair.  “When did you become so cynical?” she asked.

 

“Well, if it was 20 years ago, I would’ve said Barbara was a teenage virgin contemplating giving it up to her high school sweetheart, but I don’t think kids today even know what a radio is, much less how to call up a station.”

 

Scully sighed a little and the hand that had been resting on his hip came around to his lower back.

 

“Times are different,” he said.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“It’s nice to think that there will always be someone making late night requests to someone else though.  Hopefully, the someone else’s will always be listening.”

 

“It’s a nice thought.”

 

“I always liked Carole King’s version of this song better.”

 

“Me too.”

 

“What was the song, Scully?”

 

“What song?”

 

“You told me once you had tried to dedicate a song to your high school crush, but the radio never played it.  What was it?”

 

“Oh.  I don’t know if I remember.”

 

“Too bad.”

 

“I think it was...I think it was When I Need You.”

 

Mulder chuckled and Scully turned her head a little into Mulder’s chest as though she was hiding from embarrassment.  He gave her hand a squeeze.

 

“This Leo Sayer hit,” he said, “the number one theme song of awkward slow dances in high schools across America, goes out to…”

 

“Marcus.”

 

“To Marcus, from Dana.”

 

“I am so glad it never got played.”

 

“Me too.  Who knows where we’d be otherwise.  One love song could’ve made the difference of whether or not we’d even met.”

 

“Highly unlikely.”

 

“Are you admitting you believe in fate, Scully?”

 

“Marcus and I went to prom together.  It was a disaster.”

 

“25 years together Scully, and I’ve only just found out the name of your prom date.”

 

“Well…” she hummed for a moment and rubbed her cheek into his chest.  “Who did you go to prom with?”

 

“Cindy Ayers.  It was not a disaster.”

 

They missed the dedication with the conversation and suddenly, The Shirelles were out and the familiar opening bars of I Got You Babe were playing.  Mulder could feel Scully smile against him, but then she lifted her head as though to pull away.

 

“Oh no,” he said.  “It’s Cher, honey.”

 

Scully laughed softly and took her hand out from Mulder’s to wrap both arms around him.  He swayed a little more exaggeratedly with his hips and his shoulders, taking her with him, back and forth a few paces across the porch.

 

“This one’s from Mulder to Scully,” he said, making his voice a little lower and deeper.  “Scully, Mulder would like you to know that he’s always got you, babe. No matter what.”

 

“Can I stay here tonight?”

 

He stopped swaying and his heart dropped.  He wanted to shout ‘of course!’ and tell her what a silly question that was, but the hard to swallow truth was that it wasn’t a given and neither of them could afford to assume things right now.  Besides, he wasn’t sure she’d stick around if he made it too easy. She lifted her head from his chest and looked up at him.

 

“I think I can find a spare pillow somewhere around here for you,” he said.

 

“Thank you.”

 

He started to sway again, picking up where they left off as Sonny declared they got flowers in the spring.  She put his head back on his chest and they stayed on the porch until the crickets stopped, the lantern died, and the block of dedications turned to static.

 

The End


End file.
